"Who is there?"
No answer came, but a still gentler knock as of entreaty.
With great precaution Juventinus held the door ajar, shuddered and
recoiled. A woman of tall stature came into the _columbarium_. Long
white vestments enveloped her and a veil hid her face. Her gait was
that of one recovering from an illness or of a very old woman. With a
sudden movement she raised the veil and Juventinus cried--
"My mother!"
Didimus rose, a severe expression on his countenance.
The woman threw herself at the feet of her son and kissed them, grey
tresses falling dishevelled over her lean and haggard face, which bore
traces of high patrician beauty. Juventinus took the head of his
mother between his hands and kissed it.
"Juventinus!" the old man called.
The young man made no response.
His mother, as if they had been completely alone, murmured hastily and
joyously--
"O my son, I thought I should never see you again; I would have set
out for Alexandria--O I would have found you even in the desert! But
now all is over, is it not? Tell me that you will not go! Wait until I
die! Afterwards do what you will...."